Ming Empire

Chapter 13 Breaking through the Shengjing South Gate
After midnight, more than a thousand troops led by Cao Yue quietly sneaked into a small forest about five miles away from Shengjing City.

It was already the second half of the month, the sky was cloudy again, and the whole world was pitch black.More than a thousand men and horses were holding coins and horses in their mouths. The torches were not lit, and almost no sound came out.Like ghosts, they slowly approached Shengjing City, ready to deal a fatal blow to the capital city of slavery.

Everything is very conducive to night raids, "It's really God helping me," Cao Yue said with emotion.

However, he still didn't have the slightest carelessness, and sent out many bright and dark whistles, all of whom were the best servants.

Maybe the battles have been fought so smoothly these years, and Jiannu really became paralyzed. After midnight, there were no patrols outside Shengjing City, and there was silence everywhere.After the spies sent by Cao Yue failed to find the patrolling Jiannu, he immediately ordered his troops to continue to move forward quietly, getting closer to Shengjing City.

Several sergeants dressed up by Cao Qian and others were dressed as slaves in Jiannu clothes, and they were already on standby on the official road. They were ready to act immediately after receiving Cao Yue's order. Called to open the city gate on the grounds of urgent military information.

All personnel were very nervous, including Cao Yue, the commander of the operation.Whether the next action goes smoothly or not, at a small scale, will determine the fate of more than a thousand of them, and at a large scale, it may affect the general situation of the world.

After reconfirming that everything was correct, Cao Yue calmly gave the order to start the operation.

At this time, more than a thousand horsemen and horses led by Cao Yue had already sneaked to a place less than two miles away from Shengjing City.

***
It was already past midnight. Although it was midsummer and people generally slept late, after midnight, the city of Shengjing was also quiet. Except for a few sergeants who were patrolling the night, everyone else had fallen asleep.In the age without nightlife, going to bed early and getting up early is a common feature of people.Inside and outside the city, there are only bugs chirping and chirping, which is disturbing, more like a lullaby, and makes people drowsy.The soldiers of the Qing army on patrol on the top of the city were also yawning.

In the past few years, Shengjing has been in peace. No matter how fierce the battle in Liaodong is, the war has never involved Shengjing.Although it is said that young and middle-aged people have been conscripted, for the people living in Shengjing City, the war is far away from them.

The sergeants staying in Shengjing also felt the same way. No one would have thought that the enemy would dare to attack the capital of the Qing Dynasty, especially when the Songshan front line was fighting fiercely and the Qing army was about to win.

Therefore, Shengjing's defense was very lax. The sergeants patrolling outside the city were more loyal to their duties in the first half of the night. In the second half of the night, most of the patrolling sergeants withdrew to rest in the city, and the patrol density of the remaining guards also dropped significantly.On the front line of Songshan, the Qing army has gained an absolute advantage. With the news of success spreading frequently, who else can threaten the capital of the Qing Dynasty?

Just as the sergeant on the top of the city was sleepy and patrolling the city wall, suddenly there was a rush of horseshoes from the direction of the official road outside the city.Soon, the drowsiness of the sergeants was chased away by the sound of horseshoes.

Under the command of the commander-in-chief, the sergeants of the Qing army methodically drew their bows and arrows, threw themselves on the city wall, and aimed the arrows in the direction of several faintly shaking fires emerging from the night.In the field of vision, the fire became brighter and brighter, and then several horsemen and horses appeared in the field of vision.

Those sergeants holding torches ignored the shouting and pointing of bows and arrows from the sergeants on the top of the wall, and only stopped their mounts after they ran to the bottom of the wall.The sergeant in the lead yelled at the sergeant on the top of the wall.

"Songshan urgent report, urgent military situation, quickly open the city gate, Songshan urgent report, urgent military situation, quickly open the city gate."

The general on the top of the city briefly inquired about the situation, and then ordered the sergeant to issue an order to open the city gate.

In the past few days, there have been many urgent military reports from the Songshan front, and they often come at night.It is hundreds of miles from Songshan to Shengjing. If the emergency military report is issued at noon or afternoon, it will be delivered to Shengjing in the evening or even midnight after passing by the fast horse at the post station.

If the emergency military order was sent in the evening, it would be late at night or even early in the morning when it was delivered to Shengjing.

Just two hours ago, there was an urgent military report, which was a military report of victory.According to the military newspaper, the Qing army severely damaged the Ming army under Songshan City. Except for the tens of thousands of remnants of the Ming army who huddled in Songshan City and fought stubbornly, most of the rest of the Ming army were wiped out.The Qing army surrounded Songshan City like an iron barrel, broke through Songshan City, and wiped out the Ming army just around the corner.

However, Prince Li Daishan, the left-behind minister of Shengjing, knew that the war against Songshan had encountered a lot of trouble.Daishan learned from the secret letter sent back a few days ago that when a Ming army fled and the Qing army took advantage of the situation to attack, they were met with tenacious resistance from the Ming army. The Zhenglan Banner led by Hauge suffered heavy losses. One-third of the bannermen were wiped out, and countless seriously injured.What's more terrible is that the counterattacking Ming army broke into the emperor's imperial tent and wreaked havoc in the empty defense of the two yellow flag camps. Huang Taiji almost suffered disaster.

Because the Ming army set fire to the camp when they plundered the camp, both the Zhenglan Banner and the Two Yellow Banners suffered heavy losses.

After receiving this bad news, Daishan was very worried, for fear that this was a trap by the Ming army.He was always paying attention to the situation ahead, and was ready to follow Huang Taiji's orders at any time and respond.Therefore, he strictly ordered that the military information transmitted from the direction of Songshan must be reported to him at any time without any mistakes.The soldiers of the Qing army guarding the city did not dare to make things difficult for the sergeants who conveyed urgent military information.

Without too much questioning, the south gate of Shengjing City was slowly opened, and the suspension bridge was lowered.

As soon as the suspension bridge was lowered, the five sergeants who were waiting at the other end of the suspension bridge to convey the urgent military situation had already galloped onto the suspension bridge and ran towards the city gate quickly.The three sergeants in the front rushed into the city gate very quickly, while the two sergeants behind were a little slower.

A surprising situation happened. The two sergeants who were a little behind suddenly pulled out their sabers and slashed at the rope of the suspension bridge.When the sergeant at the head of the city realized something was wrong, the rope of the suspension bridge had been cut by the two sergeants.

Before the yawning soldiers of the Qing Army on the top of the city wall and inside the city gate had time to react, an earth-shattering explosion sounded from the direction of the city gate.The three sergeants rushing forward threw a few black things that were lit in their hands towards the city gate when they had just crossed the suspension bridge.Soon there was an explosion in the city gate.The opened wooden city gate and the Qing soldiers guarding the gate were all blown to pieces.

When the explosion happened, the five sergeants who swiftly dodged to the outside of the city gate and avoided the blast wave pulled out their swords and rushed into the city gate hole.And just as the explosion happened, black cavalry appeared on the horizon in the dark night, rushing towards the city gate quickly.

Most of the sergeants of the Qing army in the city gate had been killed. Those who survived either fell to the ground and could not move, or were stunned and did not react.The huge shock wave generated by the explosion not only stunned many soldiers under the city tower, but also frightened the soldiers of the Qing army on the top of the city.When the loud noise came, the bows and arrows in the frightened hands of many soldiers fell on the city wall.

"There is a sneak attack, the Ming army sneak attack," after a while, the general on the top of the wall finally realized it, and yelled like Jestilly.

It's just that at this time, most of the sneak attackers had already rushed across the suspension bridge and rushed into the city gate.

Of course, it was the Ming army led by Cao Yue who rushed into the south gate of Shengjing. He did not expect that they would open the city gate so easily.When Cao Qian and the others threw out the homemade explosives and the explosion sounded, he gave the order to attack without any hesitation.

At this time, the Ming army squad had already sneaked to a place that was only one mile away from Shengjing City.The huge explosion and the smoke generated after the explosion caught the defenders on the top of the city by surprise and had no time to respond.When Cao Yue led more than a thousand troops across the suspension bridge and entered the city gate, not a single arrow fell from the top of the city.

It wasn't until most of the troops rushed over the suspension bridge and rushed into the city gate that sparse arrows fell from the top of the city, and a few unlucky soldiers who rushed behind were shot, but this had no effect on the attacking troops. Continue to brandish the saber and charge towards the city.

Shengjing City is actually not very big, and after being expanded by Huang Taiji, its circumference is only about eight miles.The vertical and horizontal streets divide Shengjing into a well shape, and the entire urban area is divided into nine squares.In the middle of the north side of Shengjing City is the imperial palace of the "Great Qing Dynasty". There are two square blocks on the left and right of the imperial palace.

According to the information obtained from the interrogation in advance, there were two military camps on the east and west sides outside Shengjing City, and there were also two military camps inside the city, where Huang Taiji's two yellow flags were stationed.After rushing into the city, Cao Yue's primary purpose was to deal with the Jian slaves stationed in the two barracks in the city, then capture the imperial palace, and finally the entire city.Cao Yue believed that as long as he destroyed the two military camps in the city and occupied the palace, the plan would be completely successful.

The Ming army led by him attacked the city and occupied the imperial palace. The defenders of the Qing army in the city and other gates in the city will definitely do their best to rescue them while urgently asking for help from Huang Taiji in Songshan.Cao Yue had more than 1000 horsemen and more than 1000 muskets with sufficient ammunition. Even if he did not rely on the city wall to defend, the thousands of old, weak, sick and disabled Qing troops in Shengjing City could easily destroy them.

Order Cao Qian to lead [-] family members to solve the Jiannu area in the South Gate and control the South Gate. Cao Yue and Cao Jie each led more than [-] family members to rush towards the imperial palace along the two longitudinal streets from north to south.The two barracks with the two yellow flags set up in the city are located on both sides of the Daqing Gate. The distance from the South Gate to the Daqing Gate is only a few meters away, and they will arrive soon after riding the horse.However, at this time, the slave guards outside the barracks already knew about the emergency and issued an early warning, but before the sleeping Qing soldiers in the barracks organized resistance, the cavalry led by Cao Yue had already killed them.

"Kill, kill Jiannu..."

(End of this chapter)